Roll for player pianos



Jan. 6. 1925. 0 1,522,248

7 G. M. JOHNSON ROLL FOR PLAYER PIANOS v Filed Oct. 27. 1923 PatentedJan. 6, 1925.

EQE.

ROLL FOR PLAYER PIANOS.

Application filed October a7, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, (.lnonen M. L. JOHN- SON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Grand Haven, in the county of Ottawa and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Rollfor Player Pianos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to sheet winding rolls for player pianos, itsgeneral object being that of equipping such rolls with means which willeffectively engage one end of a perforated music sheet and which willprevent a damaging of the engaged end of the sheet when the latter isunwound from the roll after the playing.

In player pianos, it has long been customary to effect the actuation bymeans of a perforated music sheet, which extends over a tracker barbetween two rolls or bobbins on one of which rolls it is wound up as itunwinds from the other. For this purpose, the winding roll is commonlyprovided on its surface with a hook engaging an eye at one end of themusic sheet, the portion of the roll carrying this eye being reduced indiameter so that the sheet can wrap around it without indenting ordeforming the sheet.

While the ordinary hook arrangement employed on rolls for this purposewould be adequate if the sheet were always moved at the slow rate atwhich it travels during the playing of a selection, such hooks have notproven satisfactory during the much more rapid movement of the sheetwhen the same is being wound back on the initial roll. At this greaterspeed of movement, the hook which is carried by the roll from which thesheet is being unwound does not always release the eye of this sheetwith such facility as to avoid damage. Consequently, it is quite commonto havean end portion of the sheet torn off or to have the tip of thesheet ripped through at the eye, thus putting the sheet out ofcommission until it is mended in some manner.

My present invention aims to overcome this serious difficulty byproviding a roll or bobbin with a yieldingly mounted hook adapted toswing away from the roll towards the plane of the unwinding end portionof the sheet, so that this sheet portion will be I freely released evenwhen moving at. a high Serial No. 671,269.

rate of speed. Furthermore, my invention provides a construction forthis purpose; which will be inexpensive and easily at-,, tached to aroll or bobbin, and whichWillf facilitate the manual attachingo'f themusic sheet. It also aims to provide an arrangement for this purposewhich can readily be employed to form a duplex arrangement in which twohooks are secured at diametrically opposite points to the roll and inwhich a single spring normally retains both hooks in their operativepositions. further and also more detailed objects will appear from thefollowing specification and from the accompanying drawings, in whichStill Fig. l is a perspective view of a player mal position with onethereof engaging an eye at the end of the music sheet.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to ig. 2, but showing how the eye-engaging hookis swung upwardly when the music sheet has been completely unwound andis disengaging itself from the hook.

Fig. a is an enlarged perspective view of.

one of the hooks shown in the embodiments of F igs. 1 to 3 inclusive,namely an einbodia ment in which each hook is pivotedto a hinge fastenedto the roll by a screw.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an alternative type of hook, namely onein which a wire staple is substituted .for the hinged plate and screw ofF ig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a transverse section of a roll embodylng my invention andequipped with only one hook.

In carrying out my invention, I mount each sheet engaging hook on theroll so that its eye-engaging end normally extends approximatelycircumferential of the surface of the roll, the hook being pivoted atits rear end so that it can swing outwardly to present its eye-engagingend at a considerable angle from its normal position. Then I alsoprovide spring means tending to hold the hook in its normal position anddesirthe spring means needed for this purpose. Furthermore, I desirablyprovide two such hooks on each roll, disposed in diametrically oppositeand symmetrical positions and de sirably employ a single spring forholding both hooks yieldingly in their normal. positions. 7

For example, Fig. 1 shows a player piano roll comprising a pair of ends1' connected by a shank 2, which shank desirably is cylindrical exceptfor a relatively narrow center portion in which it is reduced indiameter by an amount corresponding ap proximately to the normalprojecting of the sheet-engaging hook from the general cylindricalsurface of the shank of the roll. Thisreduced central portion of theroll has a bore 3 extending transversely through the ing across theadjacent mouth of this transverse here.

The pivot element of the hook member may be constructed in various ways,as for example in the form of a metal plate 4: having a screw eye in thesame for receiving a screw 6 threaded into the roll, or in the form of awire staple 7 driven into the roll as a substitute for such a metalplate and screw after the manner shown in Fig. 5. In either case, thehinge axis of the pivot is desirably near the adjacent mouth of thetransverse bore in the roll, and the axis of the pivot extends parallelto the axis of the roll, while the eye-engaging element 8 of the hookmember is provided with a pair of perforations 9 which are disposedopposite the said bore in the roll. These perforations 9 permit the endof a tension spring 10 to be looped through the same after the mannershown in Fig. 2, so that two oppositely disposed eye-engaging memberscan be connected by a single spring 10 as'shown in Fig. 2. The springthus employed is under a suflicient tension so that it will normallyhold both eye-engaging elements in a position such as that shown in Fig.2, or within the surface forming the general cylindrical contour of theshank 2 of the wooden roll, thereby permitting the music sheet to passfreely around the hooks.

As long as this sheet passes around the roll for at least one-half ofthe circumference of the latter, the pull of the sheet as transmitted tothe hook through the eye of the sheet is directed substantially tangential of the roll towards the hinge of the hook, so that even arelatively light spring will readily hold the eye-engaging element inits normal position. However,

when the inner end of the sheet is entirely unwound from the roll, thepull on the sheet shifts to an angle tending to become radial and thepull on the eye becomes more and more transverse of the eye-engagingportion of the hook. Consequently. this portion 8 is swung outwardagainst the tension of the spring, as shown in F 3, and readily permitsthe eye of the sheet to slip off the tip of the hook. By suitablyproportioning the parts, and by thus pivoting each hook on an axisparallel to that of the roll, I can readily arrange my hooks so that theeye on an ordinary music sheet will readily slip off the hook even whenthe sheet is moving at a high rate of speed, thereby positivelypreventing a rupturing of the eye or other damage to the sheet. As soonas the unwound sheet has snapped off the hook, the spring returns theeye-- engaging part of the hook member to its normal position, so thatmy damage saving arrangement requires no added attention whatever on thepart of the user.

By providing two oppositely disposed hooks arranged in this manner Ican. facilitate the securing of the sheet to the rolls, as one or theother hook will almost always be disposed in a convenient position forattaching the eye of the sheet, while a single spring will suiiice forholding both hooks normally in their operative positions and forpermitting the necessaryyielding of either thereof during the finalunwinding of the sheet. In practice, the hook member desirably is formedso that the por tion extending across the adjacent mouth of thetransverse bore in't'he roll rests fiatwis'e on the adjacent surfaceportion of the roll, thereby limiting the inward movement of thepivotally mounted hook portion by he pull of the spring, the free endportion of the hook being offset from this surface and curved somewhatinwardly of the roll after the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 4t. lVherethe attaching or base portion of the hook member is in the form of ametal plate, this portion can be provided with a slot for re ceiving abent rear end portion 11 of the hook element, and a similar recurvedportion can be employed when the pivoting is done upon the back of awire staple as shown in Fig. 5.

However, while I have illustrated and described my invention in highlydesirable embodiments 1ncluding hook elements having perforationsthrough which the spring Neither do I wish to be limited to the use oftwo such yieldingly mounted hooks on each roll, although the duplexarrangement will cost but little more and affords certain of the bore inthe roll, this wire 11 having a bight extending into the bore andthrough which the spring is looped.

I claim as my invention 1. In a player-piano roll for use with aperforated sheet having an eye at one end, a drum, a hook pivotallymounted on the drum and adapted to extend through the eye, and resilientmeans for yieldingly holding the hook substantially circumferential ofthe drum, the pivotal mounting of the hook permitting the hook to bemoved away from the circumference of the drum when the said end of asheet is disposed oblique to the said circumference.

2. In a player-piano roll, a drum having a transverse bore, a hookpivoted to the drum and extending across the mouth of the bore, and aspring housed by the bore and continuously urging the hook towards thedrum, the hook being movable. away from the drum about its pivotalconnection to the drum.

3. In a player-piano roll for use with a perforated sheet having an eyeat one end, a drum, an eye engaging member movably mounted on the drumand adapted to extend through the said eye toward the said sheet end,the mounting of the said member permitting the same to be moved to aposition in which it will release the eye when the sheet is unwound, andyielding means for resisting such movement.

4. In a player-piano roll, a drum having a bore extending transverselythrough the same, a pair of hook members movably mounted on the drum andeach extending across one end of the bore, and a tension spring disposedin the said bore and connecting the hooks so as to urge the lattercontinuously toward the drum.

5. In a player-piano roll, a drum having a bore extending transverselythrough the same, a pair of hook members extending respectively acrossopposite ends of the bore and each pivoted at one end to the drum, thehook members having their other ends extending substantiallycircumferential of the drum and in the same direction rotationally ofthe drum, and a tension member extending through the bore and connectingthe two hook members.

6. For use with a perforated music sheet having a terminal eye, a playerroll carrying upon its surface a hook pivoted upon an axis parallel tothe axis of the roll, the hook having its tip normally extendingsubstantially circumferential of the roll, the

pivotal mounting of the hook permitting the GEORGE M. L. JOHNSON.

